AudioQuest NightHawk Impressions and Discussion Thread

[Badas]

Well the NH needs current. Tubes don't provide the amount that a low Z headphone needs. People who say the NH sounds good on full tubes I would seriously take their comments as a grain of salt because they sound like utter crap with tubes as they should.

I've had all the Litte Dots, Valhalla 2, Zana Deux etc and its just a Nono unless you really like muffled music lol


Hybrids like the Ember 2 and Vali 2 are a different story and will sound fine.

 
 

  A Dragonfly is seriously all the NH needs. The Red was pretty much custom made for it.

Here we have two different posts. One saying NH need current and tubes amps are crap. The other saying all we need is a low current device. Shows how different opinions can be.
 
All I know is that the NH sounds great on both my amps (Woo WA22 and Violectric V281). The edge going to the Woo WA22. However they are sooooo close I could live with just one (likely the V281).
 

 
Out of interest I also own the Ether Flow. That HP is absolutely superb. However even the NH beats it in certain areas. Namely lushness and mid-range. Shows how NH is a solid performer. When using the NH I don't feel a need for the Ether or that I'm missing out on anything.

 

[SomeGuyDude]

I mean, I'm not even kidding. The NH is low impedance, low sensitivity, and AQ has said in the past that the DFR is an ideal companion for it. They're not HD800s or big planars requiring a huge amount of power to drive them. Any claims beyond that come down to personal tastes in how a given amplification sounds. 

 

[spykez]

Well the NH needs current. Tubes don't provide the amount that a low Z headphone needs. People who say the NH sounds good on full tubes I would seriously take their comments as a grain of salt because they sound like utter crap with tubes as they should.



I've had all the Litte Dots, Valhalla 2, Zana Deux etc and its just a Nono unless you really like muffled music lol





Hybrids like the Ember 2 and Vali 2 are a different story and will sound fine.

 


 

 
A Dragonfly is seriously all the NH needs. The Red was pretty much custom made for it.

Here we have two different posts. One saying NH need current and tubes amps are crap. The other saying all we need is a low current device. Shows how different opinions can be.


 


All I know is that the NH sounds great on both my amps (Woo WA22 and Violectric V281). The edge going to the Woo WA22. However they are sooooo close I could live with just one (likely the V281).


 





 


Out of interest I also own the Ether Flow. That HP is absolutely superb. However even the NH beats it in certain areas. Namely lushness and mid-range. Shows how NH is a solid performer. When using the NH I don't feel a need for the Ether or that I'm missing out on anything.

 


I've always wanted to hear a woo audio, you should send me yours

 

[Badas]

 

 
 

Well the NH needs current. Tubes don't provide the amount that a low Z headphone needs. People who say the NH sounds good on full tubes I would seriously take their comments as a grain of salt because they sound like utter crap with tubes as they should.



I've had all the Litte Dots, Valhalla 2, Zana Deux etc and its just a Nono unless you really like muffled music lol





Hybrids like the Ember 2 and Vali 2 are a different story and will sound fine.

   
   
 
 

  A Dragonfly is seriously all the NH needs. The Red was pretty much custom made for it.

 

Here we have two different posts. One saying NH need current and tubes amps are crap. The other saying all we need is a low current device. Shows how different opinions can be.
   
  All I know is that the NH sounds great on both my amps (Woo WA22 and Violectric V281). The edge going to the Woo WA22. However they are sooooo close I could live with just one (likely the V281).
   
 
   
  Out of interest I also own the Ether Flow. That HP is absolutely superb. However even the NH beats it in certain areas. Namely lushness and mid-range. Shows how NH is a solid performer. When using the NH I don't feel a need for the Ether or that I'm missing out on anything.

 


I've always wanted to hear a woo audio, you should send me yours

I live in New Zealand dude. You want to pay the expensive freight?

 

[EdwardPL]

I mean, I'm not even kidding. The NH is low impedance, low sensitivity, and AQ has said in the past that the DFR is an ideal companion for it. They're not HD800s or big planars requiring a huge amount of power to drive them. Any claims beyond that come down to personal tastes in how a given amplification sounds. 

Low impedance and low sensitivity does not equal performance. The DFR just isn't a resolving device.

To be honest AQ are so new that I wouldn't put too much stock into it IMO

An example is before the NH was released, they had them being driven at shows from the Dragonfly 2.1 going into a Woo WA7, if you've ever heard the WA7 it's literally veiled, unresolving and sounds like crap to put it straight. The Dragonfly 2.1 also was a veiled product(The Red isn't as bad and is a much better device) This made the NH have a lot of bad press, those reports of muddy, which were not wrong as they were driven by a muddy paring.


The NH is a resolving headphone, it's excellent and does IMO need a good system. Sure people will like it from a phone for example or a cheap USB combo but some people also like EarPods, Justin beiber and John Cena.

Having heard the NH from better performance equipment Icould never go back myself.





I've also compared the Hawks to the Flow and I chose the NH. I still can't get used to planar compression and lack of dynamics but the flow does some things well.

 

[MattTCG]

Low impedance and low sensitivity does not equal performance. The DFR just isn't a resolving device. This is false information plain and simple. All the AQ headphones sound quite nice from the DFR. They are in fact tuned together. So you  are getting what the designer intended. It may not be what YOU personally are looking for but MOST people will find it pleasing. 

To be honest AQ are so new that I wouldn't put too much stock into it IMO AQ has been around for quite some time?? Are you referring to headphones, Dragonfly dac/amps or what? 

An example is before the NH was released, they had them being driven at shows from the Dragonfly 2.1 going into a Woo WA7, if you've ever heard the WA7 it's literally veiled, unresolving and sounds like crap to put it straight. The Dragonfly 2.1 also was a veiled product(The Red isn't as bad and is a much better device) This made the NH have a lot of bad press, those reports of muddy, which were not wrong as they were driven by a muddy paring. The wa7 has a very tubey sound for sure. BUT, lot's of people enjoy it especially with neutral or brighter headphones. I would appreciate if you would stop pronouncing your opinions as truth which they obviously are not. Please add IMO or ymmv to your statements. 


The NH is a resolving headphone, it's excellent and does IMO need a good system. Sure people will like it from a phone for example or a cheap USB combo but some people also like EarPods, Justin beiber and John Cena. DFR is not cheap at $200 but I suppose that is your effort to dismiss it as being something that someone other than yourself would enjoy. I for one think this combo of NH and DFR sounds quite good and I don't listen to any of the music that you cite here. 

Having heard the NH from better performance equipment Icould never go back myself.





I've also compared the Hawks to the Flow and I chose the NH. I still can't get used to planar compression and lack of dynamics but the flow does some things well. I typically choose the Flow when I have time to let my tube amp warm up, as it's one of the most dynamic and uncompressed headphones that I've ever owned. Planars by definition do not have built in compression or lack of dynamics. Again this is a falsehood and your opinion. 

 

[spykez]

LOL here we go again *grabs popcorn*

 

[EdwardPL]

 

 
I disagree with you.

 

[YtseJamer]

I agree with @MattTCG for the DragonFly Red, great match with the NightHawk.

 

[EdwardPL]

I wonder how the NH compare to the new ZMF Headphones. Both Semi open, both seem to have that reverb sound would be interesting. I've still got my Carbons here I'm tempted to just buy a set of the Atticus and compare before I sale the Hawks. 

 

[YtseJamer]

  I wonder how the NH compare to the new ZMF Headphones. Both Semi open, both seem to have that reverb sound would be interesting. I've still got my Carbons here I'm tempted to just buy a set of the Atticus and compare before I sale the Hawks. 

 
I will be able to compare the NightHawk with the Eikon in 2 or 3 weeks 

 

[EdwardPL]

Ok cool, look forward to it. Waiting for Marvey to give his impressions too as he has not really mentioned much of comparisons to the 650. He seems to think they are more of a closed HD650 and don't scale as much but hasn't said much about how they compare sonically.  
 
 
Listening to the Carbons now actually. Feeling pretty immersed HD650's and HD800 didn't really hook me today lol  headphones are def a mood thing.

 

[JMCIII]

  That doesn't mean much. We don't know how good these engineers are but more importantly there's a differences between understanding headphones and mixing a track. Most engineers use speakers. I've not met one good engineer who uses headphones. I would trust ears of experienced headphone listeners over someone who says they are an engineer online(No offence!) 
 
Things like treble roughness does not matter to an Engineer, having extension at extremes and not having any major peaks is really all they have to worry about. The HD800 is pretty neutral apart from that massive shlong in the 6khz region that will mess with the accuracy and that makes them a big nono.
 
I'm going to take a wild guess that you deal with more contemp music? rather than mixing classical, acoustic  etc? if you are using the NH for vocal then you will have to compensate quite a bit in the upper mids.. 
 
 
I've gone off topic, the NH has a rough, uneven treble which is fact; it's in every measurement out there, whether you or anyone can hear it is a different story. Let me guess, graphs don't mean anything....just teasing lol but it's there, and it's hidden by some internal cup reverb and humpy bass pretty well. 

 
I know one very good one that uses both, speaker and headphones (Grado's) and he swears by his headphones...... So your argument is suspect. But to each their own opinion, and yours is certainly as valid as mine or or inthere's.

 

[YtseJamer]

  Ok cool, look forward to it. Waiting for Marvey to give his impressions too as he has not really mentioned much of comparisons to the 650. He seems to think they are more of a closed HD650 and don't scale as much but hasn't said much about how they compare sonically.  

 
I don't think that the Eikon sound like the HD650 but I could be wrong.  

 

[betula]

Does any NH owner have experience with Flare R2pro IEMs? I recently bought one, and even though I am not that much into IEMs and I like my NH a lot, these tiny titanium things really impressed me (using Mojo and custom silicon sleeves). I bought them for traveling only, but find myself sharing head time with NH equally these days. Sound quality is far beyond my expectations.